PC died - what new desktop should I go for?

babelfish

A few months ago we had a power cut and the pc made a strange low rumbling noise and then went off. I have it plugged into power surge leads but this didn't protect it. For ages the pc would only switch on if I first unplugged the Ethernet cable. Sometimes it was fine and sometimes I had to unplug this cable. This morning my pc isn't having any of it and I can't get it to start up. I've tried swapping the power cable with the monitors to see if that works. Monitor works fine with both cables but pc won't switch on. There's a green light at the back of the pc as though it's getting power. It's a Dell pc with windows vista.

Has anyone got any ideas that I could try? (Nothing too technical)

I'm thinking if I have to get a new pc what do I get? I don't know whether to get AMD or Intel. I mainly, surf, email, Facebook, edit photos and go on iTunes. No gaming. As it's so near Christmas perhaps I should wait a week and see what bargains there are as I can use an old laptop in the meantime.

HereToday

This MEDION® AKOYA® E2025 E is ok for your simple needs. £189.99

Originally sold at ASDA for £299.

Ebe_Scrooge

I came across this site a couple of weeks ago :

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/pc-help/

I'm not necessarily recommending them ( or otherwise ) as a place to buy, but I do think their explanations of each component is quite useful (e.g. your question about AMD vs Intel ). Have a look through the different pages there, should help you decide what to look for in whatever you end up buying.

As HereToday said, your needs appear to be quite basic, so pretty much any PC on the market is going to be adequate. You mentioned that you do photo editing - is that just basic cropping and resizing, or more complex stuff ? If the latter then it may be an idea to invest in slightly more memory than the very basic option of a base-line PC. Though having said that, it's very easy to add more memory later on if you find it's struggling. Hope this helps.

googler

When you get the new one, take the hard drive out of the old, and install it as a secondary drive in the new one.

This will give you access to your files, favourites and other data quite easily.

victor2

Could be something simple and cheap to fix, like a new power supply.
Do you know of any local computer repair shop who would have a look at it and quote for fixing it?

babelfish

Thanks for your replies. I only do basic photo editing. I was wondering if I could get files from my broken pc. I've backed up most of my stuff onto an external hard drive but there are a couple of things I'd like to recover.

I'll take a look at that website explaining the differences. Have any of you bought from Novatech? It's recommended by Which?

Stooby2

I've used Novatech and never had a problem.

As Googler states you can take your hard drive out of the old PC. I'm not sure if it will plug into a new PC as a new one may not have the right connections, but, if you buy one of these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-to-IDE-SATA-Hard-Drive-Adapter-Cable-for-2-5-3-5-Hard-Disk-HDD-/261169682074?pt=UK_Computing_Drive_Cables_Adapters&hash=item3cceed169a

you can use it to retrieve the files off your old disk.

Taiko

Novatech are probably alright for new PC's but, from recent experience as I live close to a store of theirs, their CS are lacking a bit. Did a few upgrades to my PC a while back, and one of the components sold wouldn't work with my PC.

They took it away and tested the part and said it worked, but couldn't tell me what it had been tested on. I took my desktop PC in store to prove it wasn't compatible, but they were not prepared to confirm it. Had to battle for a refund even though I'd given them full specs of my PC when I purchased, as well as a photo of the motherboard, and eventually got my cash back after going through my card company.

It then turned out that the model of GPU they sold me, an MSI 660ti, was known for overvolting by default, and this turned out to be why it wouldn't work with my motherboard. I purchased through another company a 660ti made by a different supplier, and everything now runs brilliantly.

I imagine if you're buying one of their own PC's, then you might be in a better situation as they'll know their own gear. If things go wrong though, it might be tricky getting things sorted.

macman

Agree with victor2. Sounds like all you need is a new PSU: about £15 and half an hour to fit it. Easy DIY job on a desktop, Dells are generally very accessible.
Green light probably means that although the PSU is generating enough to power up the mobo (minimal) but not enough to boot the system up. Any independent repair shop can test that for you in minutes.
Which model Dell (Service Tag no?), and what do the 4 diagnostic lights say when you try to boot it up?

babelfish

I don't know what you mean about diagnostic lights - its just dead apart from the green light that is lit up. I press the power button and nothing happens. My husband has tried disconnecting the 4 wires that go to the power button and pushing them together to see if the computer starts but theres nothing. Service tag is 8QBHB4J.

donny-gal

Inside a desk top connected to the power cable is a box, which is the PSU (Power Supply Unit), they can die after a while, and can be replaced. If it is dead, then you will not start it.

To be honest though, when my desktop dies, I will not be replacing it, laptops today have advanced greatly, and if necessary can be connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, but have the portability when needed.

DG